During the two school community days, Grade 9 students finally took the opportunity to complete their Bronze Level International Award Adventurous Journeys. They had been a long time coming due to weather related cancellations and COVID restrictions throughout the year, but we finally found a window in the school calendar that allowed us to complete both Practice and Qualifying journeys in quick succession.

 To fulfill the requirements in the current restrictive environment, we had to adapt our itineraries and activities, but with our wonderful PREM campus on hand, it quickly became evident that we could complete most of the necessary tasks on our large campus!  Using the school climbing wall and the Forest School, all students were able to embark on a range of challenging activities including wilderness first aid, climbing, belaying, trekking, outdoor cooking and many other outdoor-related activities.

 Each and every student pushed the limits of their individual comfort zones and fulfilled all the necessary requirements to successfully complete their Adventurous Journeys. For some, many of the tasks might be considered fairly straightforward, but for others with less active lifestyles, this achievement is huge. With that in mind, I’d like to congratulate each and every participant in completing a job very well done. The staff were all very impressed by some of the dishes being prepared for dinner – camping cooking has most certainly developed since my days of doing the IA.

Many thanks to all the students for their exemplary behaviour and commitment during the 4 days of activities, and a huge thanks to all the staff involved (Ajarn Boo, Ajarn Ni, Ajarn Jeff Lowman, Ajarn Kirk,  Ajarn James and  Ajarn Ian, VSP Kon & VSP Tona), who without, these events would not be possible.

 The International Award at Prem looks forward to running the Silver Level AJ next term!

Mark Bosworth